Internal Combustion Engine

Li Qingsong looked on in some shock. The fluid inside the Strange Bird's body was not only rich in various amino acids, proteins, and active enzymes, but also contained many kinds of sugars.

Although the specific types differed from those found in Earth life, there was no doubt that they were precisely the things Li Qingsong was very familiar with.

This was very strange.

Amino acids, proteins, and the like currently seemed to be unique to Earth life. Yet this Strange Bird, a form of space life, sustained itself through the same mechanisms as Earth life?

What was its relationship to Earth life?

After thinking for a moment, Li Qingsong temporarily set aside his investigation into this question.

The Deep Space spacecraft was currently under his control, hiding out in deep space, and it was the only place with genetic analysis equipment.

"This Strange Bird lifeform also seems to use DNA and RNA as the basis of life. Once this incident is resolved and the Deep Space spacecraft returns, a genetic analysis will make everything clear."

Setting that matter aside for the moment, Li Qingsong's attention quickly shifted to something else.

Since the Strange Bird's body fluid was so nutritious... could it be used to cultivate clones?

One of the major limitations preventing him from cultivating higher-quality clones, gaining more consciousness-link slots, and controlling more clones was that he could not produce a more nutritious Culture Medium, one that would allow cells to develop according to the Gene Optimization Plan he had formulated!

The nutrition in question did not simply refer to things like sugars, proteins, and fats. If that were all it took, Li Qingsong had planted so many sugar beets and sugarcane that he could easily soak clones directly in white sugar.

But that obviously would not allow clones to develop.

The nutrition clones required had to meet numerous conditions: it had to be suited for early cell division and embryonic development, easily absorbed, properly proportioned, and contain the proper types of nutrients.

The more optimized the genetic plan, the higher the requirements for the Culture Medium when cells developed according to it. Even a tiny difference could prevent the cells from developing, or cause them to fail to develop according to the original plan, turning the entire organism into a deformity.

But the Strange Bird's body fluid seemed to contain precisely the types of nutrients he needed!

Limited by current technological conditions, Li Qingsong could only make a rough judgment like this. As for whether the body fluid contained trace impurities, or how much of them there were, he could not tell at all.

But that was fine. He would use it first and worry about the rest later.

What if there really were impurities and the cultivation failed?

Then it failed. He could just dispose of it as a malformed fetus. What else could he do?

Li Qingsong could not even be bothered to test it on mice, rabbits, pigs, cattle, sheep, or the like. He directly obtained samples of his own cells, then followed the procedure to filter, purify, and extract the Strange Bird's body fluid before pouring it straight into Culture Pods.

And not just one. He made a hundred at once.

Whether it worked or not would become clear in half a year.

Since he could not continue the physiological analysis of the Strange Bird for the time being, Li Qingsong stopped paying attention to it and turned his focus to another matter.

Developing an Internal Combustion Engine fueled by methane and pure oxygen!

By now, Li Qingsong had discovered the limitations of electric vehicles.

Their logistical requirements were too demanding.

They required a power grid and batteries. There had to be a charging station within two hundred kilometers of wherever they operated.

They simply could not venture far from the base.

This model had not mattered before, when there were no external enemies. He could slowly extend the infrastructure himself and did not need to worry about it being destroyed.

But the Strange Bird attack had exposed this limitation all at once.

Just like now, battery-powered scout vehicles could travel no more than two hundred kilometers away from the base. They could not reach anywhere farther.

At this stage, he could not build aircraft either. As a result, scouting the entire planet of Luoshen Star was impossible.

But Internal Combustion Engines were different.

A vehicle weighing three tons only needed eight liters of liquid methane and oxygen to travel one hundred kilometers.

Luoshen Star had a diameter of roughly 2,350 kilometers. Its circumference was less than 7,400 kilometers, so a vehicle carrying six hundred liters of fuel could make one full trip around the planet.

Besides, he would eventually need to develop tanks, Armored Vehicles, and the like. Charging would not be nearly as convenient in battlefield conditions, but replenishing methane and oxygen would be much easier. A single methane tanker would do the job.

Taking all these factors into account, Li Qingsong decided to develop an Internal Combustion Engine.

The principle of an Internal Combustion Engine was simple as well. Methane and oxygen burned in the Combustion Chamber, producing high-temperature, high-pressure gas that pushed the pistons and drove the crankshaft to do work.

With current technology, Li Qingsong could not achieve the extreme efficiency of the Earth era, but there was no need to pursue such high standards. As always, if it worked, it was good enough.

Thus, several hundred clones threw themselves into the work.

They continued using the previous approach: custom-making some parts in the laboratory, assembling the most primitive Internal Combustion Engines, trying to make them run and produce external work, then gradually optimizing their structure and improving their performance.

After all, the principle was right there. Building primitive Internal Combustion Engines was not difficult.

Later improvements and optimization would be delicate work, requiring vast amounts of time and accumulated technical knowledge.

But that did not matter either. Several hundred clones, all of whom had mastered every engine technology available at the moment, simultaneously tested hundreds of optimization paths. Whenever one clone made a discovery, it was immediately synchronized to all the others, who continued optimizing and developing from that foundation. In less than ten days, the first practical Internal Combustion Engine was complete.

By then, several hundred other clones researching transmission systems, Vehicle Body structures, steering systems, and braking systems had also completed their work.

Thus, the newly developed Internal Combustion Engine "heart" was installed into the Vehicle Body.

The fuel-burning vehicle Li Qingsong built stood roughly two meters tall, three meters wide, and five meters long.

Its body was fully enclosed and equipped with an air circulation system and insulation system, as well as a certain degree of radiation resistance.

Its specially reinforced body could withstand a brief burst from an Assault Type-1 without rupturing.

But it would not hold up against sustained fire or repeated strikes.

Its total mass reached 2.8 tons, and it could reach around 3.5 tons when fully loaded.

Two "fuel" tanks provided its energy.

One tank had a capacity of one hundred liters and held methane. The other had a capacity of two hundred liters and held oxygen.

With full tanks, it could travel more than three thousand kilometers.

In addition, it had reserve fuel tanks.

The reserve tanks could be as large or small as needed, holding up to more than one thousand liters of methane and oxygen. They could not only power the vehicle forward, but also supply the clones with air to breathe.

At that moment, under the driver clone's control, it suddenly roared to life.